The Kingpin - A.A.Dhand

 

If you've read The Chemist you'll want to read this. It follows on very naturally from that book where we met pharmacist Idris Khan. However it doesn't matter if you haven't read it because of all of the salient details are referenced within the narrative of The Kingpin.

I read The Chemist last year and I wrote about it on this blog. Much of I wrote would apply to this story too. 

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-chemist-aadhand.html

Many crime/thriller series can become formulaic, they are no less enjoyable for that because sometimes you simply enjoy the familiar. The main protagonist often remains stable, not a great deal of  discernible progression in their lives and modus operandi. Not the case here though. We see how circumstances have altered Idris. The release of his brother from prison is a further tangle in this knotted life. You have a sense of the moral struggle within him. It's as if his world has disintegrated and his survival is in the balance unless he follows a path that could lead to his own demise. He's not alone! There are other characters who are considering their futures regardless of the ethics of their behaviours.

Dhand's prose doesn't dawdle, he's writing a sprint not a marathon and it is exciting. There's just enough detail to satisfy the readers' imagination but action dominates.  The characters are raw, real and often brutal. There are many here I would not like to meet on a dark night, or even in broad daylight!

There is violence aplenty, and Idris attempts to solve many of his problems with his pharmaceutical knowledge. I love this aspect of the stories, it gives the character an original edge. Drugs and turf wars, revenge and retribution, some challenging issues  populate almost every page in the book. There is the occasional bit of light relief but it's an intense read that will you have turning the pages desperate to know what happens next but, paradoxically, fearful of what atrocities you might encounter! 

And if you are hungry for more I suspect that a further book is intended as the conclusion of The Kingpin suggests that we have not heard the last of Idris Khan. 

My thanks to Caitlin McCoy of HQ stories for my copy.